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Part of what I do is go on tour and play live gigs – for me it is a really important skill which keeps you “sharp” – lots of material to learn, practice-practice-practice and rehearsals, playing with new musicians and generally “being prepared”.

Nothing will test your skills more than a first-night on tour, but rewards are immediate – the feedback from the crowd, the energy and adrenalin and sense of achievement.

It’s not all expensive destinations, private jets and free bass guitars… Touring and being mentally ready to tour is something that you get used to – it’s hard work to be able to deliver, play as a band and be your best every night…

I thought I’d share some of the “behind-the-scenes” moments – the reality of being on tour!

As some of you know I try to balance three parts of my musical-life – teaching, gigging & sessions and also working with the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford – working with the Live Performance group to develop band-skills, playing and especially bass skills.

ACM have given us all Video Biographies and Profiles – which is really cool and adds a bit of depth to what we do, how we got here and the skills and musicianship that we can teach – I’d thought I’d share mine…

Everything about the tour was, “just right” – sound, equipment, venues, the band… we were knackered and very happy!

The second-half of each gig was a complete live version of Nik’s “Human Racing” album, which brought the best-out in the audience – I think some of it happy memories, songs you’d perhaps forgotten and also a chance to sing-along and re-live…

Fantastic time, you the audience looked happy too and look forward to seeing you again in the festival season 2013!!

So, for those who don’t know “Rock Receiver” – here it is!! Very cool, online and packed with content music magazine. This month’s edition has loads – and a feature about me, “Paul Geary – Big Personality, Big Bass”.

Well, one thing has lead to another, and.. I am a tc electronic Endorsee!

The support has been awesome (thank you to all the people at tc!) and I have already taken delivery of the full stack, it has been delivered to the production company and I will be gigging with them in the few days!

As part of this awesome day, I was fortunate enough to interview Mark and talk about his early days, the band and being in the music industry. The interview lasts about thirty minutes and has been chopped up into six sections –

Watch, Listen and Learn! We really were very very lucky to have Mark visit and be so generous with his time.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Mark is one of the main reasons I started playing bass and it is so important for new musicians to have something to “aim-for” and work towards – practice, practice & more practice!

It is always good to welcome great musicians to ACM and last month we were especially privileged to welcome the Bass Legend, Mark King of Level 42.

The Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) offers some amazing, once in a lifetime opportunities to their students and you can checkout the visit on their website – Bass Legend Mark King Visits ACM

Mark gave a fantastic talk, session and then answered questions, giving the students a real insight into how he started and how his career has progressed.

Mark was the main reason I started playing Bass, so to have him come to ACM and see what we have here & what we have built over the years was a real treat. He has inspired so many of us over the years & did just that yesterday.– Paul Geary

The best was yet to come – Mark and I then had some time to sit down and talk about being in the music industry, which is all now available as a video interview. The interview lasts about thirty minutes so it has been chopped into five sections, which I’ll link to in my next posts.

An awesome day, really good to see the students so encouraged and fired-up – Thank you Mark for a great visit!!

“There are Overwater Players…”
As many of you already know, I was really flattered to be approached by Overwater Basses in 2010 to see if I would be interested in endorsing and playing their bass guitars.

The Overwater company is an established British Manufacturer and this combined with the quality of manufacture and total understanding of their product and the players requirements makes my Overwater the best bass I’ve owned!

A big shout to Chris and everyone at Overwater for their attention to detail and patience!